Hollow Heart
by SkyLineLyan
Summary: She was tired of being the weak link in her team. However, a scared animal will attack without stop when they feel fear. And that's exactly what Sakura did. Death had been the answer and poor little Sakura is left scared and wondering her next step. Retelling of Naruto - somewhat AU. Set during the Waves mission.
**Hello, there. So, this is my first entry for my account. A friend of mine recommended this website. As you can all clearly see, this is a Sakura Haruno fanfic, thus it brings me to the topic which is, if you don't like this character, you do not have to read this. If you are squeamish when reading a bit of gore, then maybe this story is not for you.**

 **This story takes place during the Wave mission, and it focuses on the aforementioned character. There must be a ton of pics like this but I'd like to try my hand on this. Thank you for reading this.**

 **Disclaimer: The Naruto series, be it the manga or anime, belong to its rightful owner. Any work done is purely fan fiction and does not follow the canon storyline. Thank you.**

* * *

Chapter 1

Her emerald eyes drooped for a moment before she woke herself up. The kunoichi raised her hands and messily rubbed it to her hair. No one was there to see her at what she would deem, her 'worst time'.

Sakura could feel depression sinking into her veins and arteries, circulating in her body. She looked to the side and sees her teammates and sensei sleeping peacefully. She sighed before standing up and walking downstairs to get outside; it felt stuffy in the room. She felt sluggish, she wanted out.

Their mission in the Wave was beginning to take a toll on her. She felt like as if she was nothing during the course of their mission. She couldn't protect her teammates, she couldn't protect her sensei, she couldn't protect their client and she was sure she couldn't protect Tsunami-san and her son from upcoming dangers.

Sakura was so tired of being weak. A shiver went up her spine when she walked out of the house, clad in a change of clothes provided by Tsunami-san. The cool breeze of the night did nothing to calm her; it placed more edge on her person.

Her ears perked up at the sound of rustling but dismissed it when she saw the bushes moving from the wind. She had a rueful smile; even the leaves are shivering from the cold. Sakura's nose twitched when the soothing smell of the forest and mist invaded her senses.

She didn't feel at ease, she felt cold and empty. She rubbed her forearms slowly to heat up her cold body. She felt useless and abandoned. Her emerald eyes glossed. She was a disappointment.

The wind blew and another shiver went up her spine.

Sasuke had looked at her with such cold eyes. She couldn't protect Tazuna-san, and needed Sasuke to protect both her and their client instead. She let out a laugh of despair; it was hollow and empty. Much like her heart currently.

She was useless when Naruto was injured. She was of no use to them when they helped face Zabuza. Her sensei had gotten hurt and she could not help. She wasn't able to help. She was so… useless.

Tears brimmed and Sakura raised her hand to roughly wipe it away. The tears came down faster and Sakura rubbed her pink cheeks to rid of the liquid. She sniffled before rubbing her pink nose. She sniffed once more, her slightly blue lips quivering.

She was nothing.

Another rustling reached her ears and another gust of wind blew. Her nose twitched and her eyes widened. Sakura turned.

"Well, well, a girl like you shouldn't be out here by yourself," a gruff voice said and Sakura grunted when she was thrown across the ground.

She tried to sit up, hissing in pain as she did so. Her hand delicately touched her abdomen as she looked up painfully. Her eyes focused and saw the perpetrator's hand forming a fist before registering the pain on her torso that was blooming. Sakura coughed out blood for a moment.

She didn't notice someone was there the whole time until it was too late.

How could she be anymore ignorant?

"Is this seriously the ninja that bridge-builder hired? Weak," the attacker's partner muttered out as he revealed himself from the bushes.

The two didn't seem like shinobi but the comment stung. A lot.

Sakura tried standing up, staggering for a few moments before regaining balance. Her brain was active; her body could feel fear and adrenaline pumping throughout. She was in a fight or flight mode and curse her kind heart, she wanted to protect the people inside the house. Even if it meant she would die.

"Get away from here…" Sakura managed to rasp out, her voice losing and her body becoming weak from the hit. She couldn't help but feel even more vulnerable. A kunoichi without her weapons and clad only in sleeping clothes. It was a laugh indeed.

A bark of a laugh escaped her attacker's throat, before running a hand through his black locks. "Did you hear that, Kou? She wants us to get out… What's the little bitch going to do, huh?" the man taunted, nudging his partner with a sadistic grin plastered on his face.

Sakura's eye twitched at the comment. It stung and she wanted to pummel his face in if possible. Even with the fear coursing through her system.

"Stop fooling around, Tetsuo. Kill the girl and get this over with," Kou, the brown haired companion reprimanded. He flinched when something hit his right eye. He didn't register the blow until he saw a pebble landing near his foot. He looked to the front to see the pink haired girl panting, hand extended as if she had thrown something.

Sakura spat a wad of spit and blood before taking a deep breath. She could feel and hear her heart beating loudly as it sounded as if it reached her ears. She felt suffocated but she also felt the need to protect the people she cared for. The pain on her torso became unbearable but she was sure she could live through.

She was sick and tired of seeing Naruto and Sasuke moving forward in everything they do. She was sick and tired of seeing Naruto's pitying looks when she couldn't achieve something. She was tired of seeing Sasuke's looks of disdain when she failed. She was sick of seeing Kakashi-sensei's look of disappointment when she didn't meet his expectations. She was sick of Ino being better than her. She was sick of the Academy students looking at her as if she was a decorated graduate. She was sick and tired of everything.

She was sick and tired of labeling herself a useless void created to fill an empty space in the world. She was tired of blaming herself.

She wanted out. Now.

"Come and get me, bastards! I'll take both of you down!" Sakura roared, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. If she was going to die tonight, at least she could die knowing she did everything in her power to protect her companions. At least, on her gravestone, it won't be written, _Sakura Haruno, died at 12. Died in uselessness._

Kou laughed as he took a step forward. His pupils dilated and he grinned sadistically. "Tetsuo, it seems our little mouse wants to play… Let's treat her to a game of chase," he chuckled before licking his lips. His hands rested on a hilt of a dagger.

Sakura gulped almost inaudibly.

Tetsuo lets out another laugh, "Ah, I'm with you all the way, Kou."

She feels her blood pumping. She shifted her feet a bit.

"One… two… three!"

Sakura sprints into another direction, away from the house. She could hear footsteps behind her and feel the breeze that was hitting her face. A hand clutched her abdomen, feeling the bruise beginning to settle. Her mind worked for an escape plan. She could hear herself panting and grunting.

Her feet were most probably bruised, dirty and cut. She could feel the sting of a branch that had cut her arm. She flinched when a branch cut her cheek. However, she kept running without stop.

Even when the footsteps are nearing. Even when she could practically feel a hand reaching out for her.

It did.

Sakura fell to the ground with a ground and struggled when someone sat on top of her. She feels her wrists being held and looked up to see a grinning Tetsuo. She panicked when a knife came into view. The glint of the metal underneath the moonlight didn't alleviate the fear by one bit.

She had never liked knives. Only when they are in good hands.

Tetsuo's didn't look good. At all.

"Time to say bye-bye to your life, bitch!" Tetsuo sang, licking the metal blade slowly before holding it up high.

Sakura felt tears streaming down her face. She could envision her body lying dead on the ground. She could see her teammates looking down at her dead body with pity and the underlying disappointment she was sure they would have. She could see herself being buried and her Baba crying. She could see her end.

She hated it.

She hated that image so much.

She wanted to puke just by imagining it.

So, she did one thing she could do.

She screamed.

Sakura screamed her lungs out, ignoring the pain in her chest due to her actions. She wanted to scream and she will. She could feel Tetsuo flinch at the volume of her screams and held her mouth shut with the hand he was holding the knife with.

Sakura felt a spark of shock and fear when the knife was intimately close with her eye but remained screaming anyways even when she was blocked. She could feel herself choking when large hands covered her mouth and nose, blocking her breathing system.

Her pupils dilated in fear, she could feel herself breaking. Her mind was torn into pieces. Her desire to live, her willingness to protect… and her acceptance of death. She felt all that and more. She felt her brain breaking, her will torn and her life dissipating.

Until she saw death itself.

There was no way she was going down without a fight.

Not when she had something to prove.

Sakura moved her head forward, ignoring the dig of the knife between the bridge of her nose and her left eye. She struggled and managed to pull out a hand before realizing something wet covering the fingers of her freed hand.

She had just shoved her hand into Tetsuo's eye socket.

The man screamed, releasing the young kunoichi in favor of clutching his eye. The screams of pain were frightening but Sakura squared her shoulders despite the shakiness of her form.

She had just pulled out a man's eyeball from its eye sockets. If she could do that, then she was capable of other things. Her nostrils flared as she made up her decision.

She approached the man, picking up the knife he had dropped. She stood in front of him, looking down at his hunched form. Her hands were shaking, her person ready to faint. She had fear controlling her mind. She brought the knife up, and pushed it down.

The first squelching sound of skin and blood was horrifying, amplified by the man's painful yell. Curses came soon after with more slashes to the man's face. Even when he tackled her to the ground, the pink haired girl kept slashing the man's facial features.

Eyeball hung down, nose deformed, mouth non-existent. That was his face now and Sakura felt a tinge of horrification in her little heart. The man punched and pummeled her, screaming out profanities and insult but little Sakura never stopped. Not when fear controlled her mind. Not when the need to survive is in her blood.

Even when the blood was dripping on her face, even when her hands are stained red, even when all she could feel was the numbness of the situation, Sakura never stopped.

She ended her attacks, when the body fell on top of her. Red soaked into her clothes and covered her pale skin. Sakura held the knife to her chest as she looked up to the moon. She felt crushed under the heavy weight of the still bleeding dead body. She was trying to digest her actions, trying to accept reality. She was still in a trance.

After a few moments, she pushed the body from on top of her, grunting a bit at the weight and the feel of an unmoving person. She sat up without looking at the body. She felt empty but satisfied. She couldn't believe that she had killed a man in cold blood but she was happy that she managed to protect her teammates. It hadn't sunken into her brain that she had just murdered someone until it did.

When Sakura had the courage to look down, then it dawned to her as to what she had done. Her body began to shake in fear as her emerald eyes looked at the body before travelling to her blood-caked hands and back. Tears flooded down her cheeks and she sobbed. The sight of the ruined face, the blood on the body haunted her. How it wasn't… moving. The reality came crashing down as she curled.

She had just committed murder.

How was she going to live with herself?

How can she cope with this?

What did she do?

Questions flew through her mind, making her susceptible to anything approaching. And something did.

Sakura found herself thrown across the ground, couching and grunting in pain as she rolled in the dirt. She coughed out in pain; vomit, saliva and blood dripped to the ground. She clutched the dirt underneath her palms, caking the inside of her nails with brown and black.

She shakily looked to the side and whimpered in pain and fear at the sight of Kou sneering down at her. She couldn't stop the man's eyes from travelling across her body, taking in with delight of her frail, bloody and dirt-covered person.

Don't look at her.

She was a monster.

The man stepped towards her.

She quivered.

"I'm not like Tetsuo… I won't fail this mission and I sure wouldn't let a fucking little girl kill me," Kou said. He walked forward, approaching the pink haired girl's shaking form.

Sakura tried to move, but she couldn't. Her body was frozen in fear. In fear and of guilt at the fact she had killed someone and someone was about to kill her. Her eyes widened in fear and she felt betrayed by her limbs. She didn't want to die now. Not when she had just escaped from it.

She froze when the man loomed over her. Sakura looked up fearfully, taking in the sadistic grin to the blade in the man's hand. Someone please save her, she didn't want to die. Sakura pleaded to Kami that she would live. Prayed that the pain was swift, so she wouldn't suffer.

Oh Kami, she didn't want to die tonight.

Kou laughed before he sang out, "Time for you to die, little girl."

Sakura bit her lip to suppress a whimper. She closed her eyes, praying to Kami to look over her loved ones. She lived her life well. She served her purpose. She did everything she could.

"After I kill you, I'm gonna kill your stupid team and that fucking bridge-builder. I'll make sure they know how much of a failure you were… don't you worry about that, sweet cheeks."

Sakura suddenly hear silence.

What?

Her mind was blank.

What did he just say?

She felt something spark inside of her.

She was not a failure.

She had done her best.

But try and try as she might, Sakura will always be a failure.

Right?

…

Wrong.

Dead fucking wrong.

Sakura felt her hand twitch. She wasn't a failure. She wasn't a burden. She wasn't an annoyance. No matter how many people keep telling her that, she will not stoop so low as them. She will not regard herself as a failure, if that is the last thing she will do.

She wanted to prove – no, she was dead set on proving it to the world.

She wasn't a failure and she'll move heaven and hell for people to realize that.

The pink haired kunoichi collected her chakra into her feet; a boost of speed. She wasn't known for her chakra control for nothing.

Her heart stopped beating for a moment, a surge of fear travelled through her. She had one shot and she needed to make it count. No, she will make it count.

She glanced at Kou and waited for the blade to strike down. It did.

Kou gasped when suddenly, the girl disappeared when he brought down his blade. He looked around hurriedly to find the girl but to no avail. She was gone. Fuck, where did that bitch go? He thought as he walked a bit around the clearing.

He didn't hear anything until a rustling came from a bush on his right. He turned quickly before slowly approaching the bushes. He grinned, he was sure she was behind the bushes. A whimper came from it and he grinned even broader.

He was going to have fun tonight.

As Kou neared the bush, he suddenly felt something wet run down his forehead. Bringing a hand up to wipe the liquid, he brought his hand to eye-level to see the substance. His eyes widened when blood covered his fingertips before said fingertips were sliced off cleanly.

A scream escaped him as he clutched his hand. Blood poured out of the wound and the man looked around in a panicky manner. His eyes quickly assessed his surroundings, trying to find the kunoichi that may have caused the wound.

Another mind-numbing pain was felt and he looked down to see his other arm completely cut off. Another scream was emitted. Kou realized his mistake; he had released the blade he was holding.

The girl had taken it.

He was a tad too little too late to realize that.

Sakura managed to appear behind him and she clutched tightly on the blade's hilt. She hesitated for a moment. She was still shaky, she was still afraid. However, it was kill or be killed.

The answer was simple.

The sound of flesh being sliced and blood spurting was the only sounds heard throughout the clearing during the night. Soon, it was deafly quiet. Too quiet. Until Sakura's sobs resonated in the woods that night.

The breeze was slow and sorrowful, as if echoing the emotions the girl was feeling in her heart.

* * *

Sakura walked home slowly, almost staggering along the way. She was bruised, beaten and dirty. All she wanted to do was take a warm bath and go to sleep. She looked up and was surprised to see Tsunami-san standing in front of the door, looking worried and petrified.

The black haired woman sighed in relief and gasped in shock at the sight of the young girl in front of her. She walked slowly towards Sakura, her eyes showing sympathy to the girl's condition.

"What happened?" was the first thing that came out of Tsunami's mouth.

Sakura looked up tiredly with sorrowful eyes but a soft smile playing on her lips. "I did it, Tsunami-san… I protected all of you… I'm not weak anymore…" Sakura felt fatigue wash over her as she slowly entered Tsunami's embrace.

Tsunami cooed, "Oh, Sakura-chan…" as she took the tired pink haired kunoichi in her arms. She didn't mind the blood soaking through her clothes as she stroked the pink locks, picking at the flakes of dried blood stuck to it.

Sakura felt her eyes droop. She felt safe. She felt warm.

She felt loved.

Tsunami released her momentarily, stroking the poor girl's face. She took in a deep breath of shock and sympathy when she noticed the large gash between Sakura's nose and left eye. Tears ran down her face for the girl in front of her.

"Oh, sweetheart… Let's get you cleaned up, okay?" Tsunami sweetly offered, stroking Sakura's cheeks slowly. She made sure not to touch Sakura's wound for fear of worsening it.

Sakura nodded with a tired smile. "Okay, Tsunami-san."

Tsunami lead Sakura into the house, making sure that the girl was safe and sound.

* * *

 **To be continued...**

 **Hope you enjoyed this story! Bye.**


End file.
